Courts of Norway
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Courts of Norway
Courts of Norway
T
he Courts of Justice consist of three instances:
the Supreme Court (Høyesterett1) in the third
instance, the Courts of Appeal (lagmannsrett) in the
second instance and the District Courts (tingrett)
in the first instance. The courts hear both civil and
criminal cases.
Most civil disputes are considered initially by the Conciliation Boards (forliksråd), which are to be found in
every municipality and consists of lay people.
The Courts of Justice are supplemented by special
courts, including the Labour Court (Arbeidsrett)
and the Land Consolidation Courts (jordskiftedomstolene).
The courts do not take up cases of their own accord,
but resolve legal disputes by considering the cases
brought before them. Civil cases are brought before
the courts by the parties, whereas criminal cases are
brought by the prosecution authority. The prosecution
authority consists of the Director of Public Prosecutions (riksadvokaten), the Public Prosecutors (statsadvokaten) and the Prosecuting Authority in the police
(påtalemyndigheten i politiet).
Read more about the Norwegian courts at
www.domstol.no
1The
Norwegian names in parentheses are given in indefinite singular form.
From the Supreme Court
All cases before the courts are presided
over by a professional judge. The lay
judge system, however, ensures that citizens who do not have a law qualification
also play a key role in Norwegian jurisprudence.
The professional judges are always law
graduates, and are civil servants appointed by the King-in-Council. The Judicial
Appointments Board, which is an independent body, recruits and makes recommendations for judge appointments. A judge must
be a Norwegian citizen and can only be
dismissed by a court judgement.
The judges are independent in their adjudication of the individual case, and cannot
be instructed.
Deputy judges are legally qualified persons who are appointed to a court for a
limited period. The arrangement is used
only in the courts of first instance, and
was introduced in order to give law graduates practical experience of the courts.
The deputy judges preside over proceedings in court and decide cases just like
other judges, but there are certain restrictions on what kind of cases they may consider.
In order to prevent doubt about the independence of the judges, the Norwegian
Parliament (Stortinget), has adopted an
approval and registration scheme for judges’ extra-judicial activities, that is to say
their membership or office in organisations, in accordance with particular rules.
The scheme applies to judges in all instances including deputy judges, but not
to lay judges. The register of the judges’
extra-judicial activities is published on
www.domstol.no
Lay judges are selected by municipal
councils for four years at a time. The
precondition for being selected is that
a person can stand in municipal elections. There are different pools of lay
judges for the Courts of Appeal and the
District Courts, but no lay judges participate in the Supreme Court. In the District
Courts the lay judges sit on the bench, in
the Court of Appeal they sit either on the
bench or in the jury-box. The lay judges
participate mainly in criminal cases.
Anyone selected as a lay judge is obliged
to accept the office. Certain occupational
groups are exempt from selection, including judges, police officers and prosecutors, employees of the Ministry of Justice
and the National Courts Administration. There are also certain restrictions
regarding individuals with a criminal
record. The lay judges must be between
21 and 70 years of age when their period
of office begins.
From the Supreme Court
Especially in civil cases, expert lay judges
can be appointed, with expertise in a specialized field.
The Supervisory Committee for Judges
is an independent body that hears complaints against judges, for example for
unprofessional conduct. It can also take
up cases on its own initiative.
The Supervisory Committee of Judges is
appointed by the King-in-Council and the
Courts Administration is its secretariat.
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is the highest court
in Norway. The decisions of the Supreme
Court are final and cannot be appealed.
The Supreme Court sits in Oslo.
The court is chaired by the President
of the Supreme Court, and has another
18 judges. Individual cases are normally heard by a panel of five judges,
but certain cases are considered by the
Supreme Court in plenum.
Appeals to the Supreme Court are first
considered by the Supreme Court’s Appeals committee, which decides whether
a case will proceed to the Supreme Court.
The Appeals Committee is constituted
with three judges per case.
The Supreme Court is an appellate court
that hears appeals against decisions
made by the District Courts and the
Courts of Appeal. The Supreme Court
considers both civil and criminal cases,
and has authority in all areas of the law.
In criminal cases the question of guilt
is determined by the Courts of Appeal,
whereas the Supreme Court may decide
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A judgement may be changed by a superior court after appeal consideration. A
higher court cannot, of its own accord,
instruct a lower court in how it should
handle individual cases. If, on the other
hand, one party takes a decision further,
instead of entering a new judgement the
higher court can decide that the lower
court must hear the case again.
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Courts of Norway
The judges and the
independence of the courts
Proceedings of the Supreme Court proper are oral, and are open to the public.
There is no immediate presentation of
evidence in the form of party or witness
testimony as in the District Courts and
the Courts of Appeal.
Read more about the Supreme Court at
www.hoyesterett.no
The Courts of Appeal
There are six Courts of Appeal in Norway,
each covering a certain geographical
area, called a circuit. Each Court of
Appeal is chaired by a president.
Frostating Court of Appeal
Sits in Trondheim, and covers the following counties: Møre and Romsdal, SørTrøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag.
Hålogaland Court of Appeal
Sits at Tromsø, and covers the following counties: Nordland, Troms and
Finnmark.
In the Courts of Appeal the individual
case is always heard by a panel of three
appellate judges.
Borgarting Court of Appeal
Sits in Oslo and covers the following
counties: Oslo, Buskerud, Østfold and
the southern part of Akershus county.
In criminal cases the appeal may be
against various aspects of the District
Court’s decision. If the appeal concerns
the question of guilt, the case shall be
decided by a jury or a bench consisting
of three professional and four lay judges
(meddomsrett). The lay judges are laymen selected at random from a panel;
there will always be two women and two
men. The professional and lay judges
take all decisions collectively, and all
votes are equal.
Eidsivating Court of Appeal
Sits at Hamar, and covers the following
counties: Hedmark, Oppland and the
northern part of Akershus county.
In cases where the sentencing framework is more than six years, the question of guilt shall be decided by a jury
(lagrette). The jury consists of ten persons,
The Courts of Appeal adjudicate appeals
against decisions from the District
Courts in their circuits. They decide both
civil and criminal cases.
The Courts of Appeal:
From Indre Finnmark District Court
Gulating Court of Appeal
Sits in Bergen, and covers the following
counties: Hordaland, Sogn and Fjordane
and Rogaland.
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Courts of Norway
Proceedings in the Appeals Committee
are in writing alone, the decisions are
made on the strength of the documents
in the case.
Agder Court of Appeal
Sits at Skien, and covers the following counties: Vestfold, Telemark, AustAgder and Vest-Agder.
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on sentencing and the quality of the
procedure.
The District Courts
From Hålogaland Court of Appeal
if feasible five women and five men.
Members of the jury for a particular
case are drawn from a panel at random,
fourteen plus two alternates. Then the
accused and the prosecution can, in
accordance with specific rules, challenge
(exclude) up to two jury members each.
If this method of eliminating jury members is not used, lots are drawn to decide
who is to sit on the jury.
When the jury has decided on the question of guilt, four of the jury members
participate in the sentencing together
with the three professional judges.
If the appeal to the Court of Appeal only
concerns the sentencing for offences in
which the framework is imprisonment
for up to six years, the case shall be determined by three professional judges,
as a rule after oral proceedings. When
hearing appeals against sentencing
where the framework is more than six
years’ imprisonment, the Court of Appeal
is constituted with three professional
and four lay judges.
If the appeal concerns application of the
law or procedure, the Court of Appeal
shall only decide whether the District
Court has applied the law correctly or
has made procedural errors. In such
cases the court is constituted with three
professional judges.
A civil case is as a rule heard by three
professional judges. In certain types of
case there must be lay judges as well.
The parties can also demand that two to
four lay judges be empanelled.
The Court of Appeal’s decisions – other
than decisions on the question of guilt in
The country is divided into judicial districts, with one District Court per judicial
district. In Oslo there are two district
courts, Oslo District Court (Oslo tingrett)
considers criminal and civil cases, and
Oslo County Court (Oslo byfogdembete)
considers inter alia enforcement cases,
bankruptcy, probate, marriages and the
issue of official certification. A judicial district may consist of one or more
municipalities. Stortinget has decided
upon structural reorganisation of the
courts, and this has been in progress
since 2002. When this is completed in 2010
there will be 66 courts of first instance.
Criminal cases in the District Court are
decided either by a guilty plea or by
the mixed panel of professional and lay
judges. In addition, the District Court can
take certain decisions during the investigation of criminal cases.
The criterion for entering judgment on a
guilty plea is that the accused makes an
unreserved confession supported by the
evidence in the case. In such cases the
sentencing framework cannot exceed ten
years, and the accused must concur with
the procedure. These cases are heard by
a single professional judge.
In ordinary criminal cases the District
Court sits as a mixed panel of one professional and two lay judges. In lengthy
and other special cases, the court may
be constituted as an “extended court”
with two professional and three lay judges. The professional judges and the lay
judges participate on an equal basis as
regards both the question of guilt and
the sentencing. The lay judges are drawn
for the individual case from a pool of persons appointed by the municipal council
for four years at a time.
Judgments of the District Court may be
appealed to the Court of Appeal. This
means that for reasons of due process,
the question of guilt is tested in two instances. With the exception of the most
serious cases, the Court of Appeal’s
appeals committee can refuse to let the
Court of Appeal hear a case.
The civil disputes in the District Courts
include a number of different case types,
such as family cases, neighbours’ quarrels, compensation suits, quashing of
administrative decisions and disputes in
employment and business relationships.
One party may file a writ of summons
with the District Court, but a judgment
in the conciliation council can also be
brought before the District Court.
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The decisions of the District Court regarding imprisonment or other coercive
sanctions during the investigation, and
any ban on visits to remand prisoners
are also taken by a professional judge.
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criminal cases – can be appealed to the
Supreme Court.
All the Courts of Appeal have their own
homepages that can be reached via
www.domstol.no
Any party that is unhappy with the result
of a civil case can bring it before the
Court of Appeal.
The Land
Consolidation Courts
All courts of first instance have their
own homepages that can be reached via
www.domstol.no
Conciliation Boards
Most civil cases are handled by the Conciliation Boards, which are mediation
bodies that have a certain power to enter
judgment as well. They deal with more
than 250 000 cases per year.
The two-instance system
In 1995 Norway introduced a new system
whereby all cases can be considered
in two instances. This means that all
cases start in the District Courts. Previously, serious criminal cases began in
the Court of Appeal, which means that
in such cases the question of guilt could
be tested only once. Having the question
of guilt tested by two instances improves
the rights of the accused. The Court of
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Appeal’s appeals committee determines
whether the case can be brought before
the Court of Appeal, but in the most serious criminal cases the convicted person
is entitled to a new hearing in the Court
of Appeal if he contests the judgment.
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Courts of Norway
Instead of a normal main hearing, the
court can call the parties in for court
conciliation.
The District Courts also consider cases on
enforcement, bankruptcy, debt settlement
(composition), division of joint property
and decedent estates. These cases are
heard by a judge alone. Court hearings or
creditors’ meetings can be held, and the
judge decides questions that arise during
this procedure or adjudicates the case.
The question of guilt in criminal cases
can not be appealed to the Supreme
Court.
The Land Consolidation Courts are special courts that work with cases falling under the Land Consolidation Act.
Their duties are mainly demarcation of
properties, facilitation of collaboration
across property boundaries, clarification
of title to real property, fixing of boundaries and various exercises of discretionary powers.
The remit of the courts has gradually
grown from only dissolution of realproperty co-tenancies and agricultural
properties to problem-solving for everyone who owns land in Norway. The Land
Consolidation Act has been amended so
that all instrumentalities are available
also in cities and urbanised areas.
There are two kinds of Land Consolidation Courts in Norway: the Land Consolidation Court as first instance and the
Land Consolidation Appeal Court as appeal instance. Judgments and other decisions with legal effect made by the first
instance can be appealed to the Court of
Appeal, while the Land Consolidation Appeal Court has appellate jurisdiction inter
alia in technical land division questions.
From Stavanger District Court
The right to appeal from the Land Consolidation Appeal Court to the Court of
Appeal is restricted mainly to procedure
and application of the law. The Land
Consolidation Courts comprise 34 firstinstance courts.
The administrative responsibility for the
Land Consolidation Courts is vested in
the National Courts Administration.
Read more about the Land Consolidation
Courts at www.jordskifte.no
Freedom of information
in the justice system
The courts possess considerable powers
over the individual, and in a democratic
society it is important that this is com-
bined with a high degree of openness
and freedom of information. Norwegian
law prescribes a right to know when
court hearings are to be held, to attend
them and publish what is said there. In
particular cases and under particular
conditions the courts may restrict freedom of information.
International conventions
Like other states, Norway has undertaken
to respect legally binding international
conventions. Norway is, for example,
signatory to various UN conventions,
for example on the Rights of the Child.
Other important conventions include the
Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (also
known as the European Convention on
There are several international courts
that deal with questions related to the
conventions. The European Court of
Human Rights has great significance for
Norwegian citizens. The courts’ task is
to ensure that signatory states to the
European Convention on Human Rights
are fulfilling their obligations, which
means that the citizens of these countries can have their cases heard if they
consider that their country’s own courts
have made decisions that contravene the
Convention. The Court of Human Rights
can decide complaints with binding effect
on the states. Member states can also
bring other states before the court.
Read more about the Court of Human
Rights at www.echr.coe.int
The National Courts
Administration
The Courthouse of Tromsø
In 2002 the administrative control of the
courts was moved out of the Ministry
of Justice, where it has been since the
creation of the Norwegian state in 1814.
The National Courts Administration
(NCA) (Domstoladministrasjonen) was
established in order to safeguard the independence of the courts in relation to
the other branches of government. The
NCA is an independent administrative
body with its own board consisting of
nine members, of whom two are elected
The NCA is headquartered in Trondheim.
The Storting adopts general guidelines
and framework budget for the courts
and the National Courts Administration.
The NCA and the Ministry of Justice are
in dialogue about the development of the
courts, resource needs and regulations.
The Ministry of Justice has no power to
instruct the NCA, but has the principal
responsibility for drafting legislation concerning the courts. The NCA initiates legislative amendments and is a consultation
instance for new acts and regulations.
Among other things the NCA has the
responsibility for the courts’ premises,
finances and ICT equipment and development. It assists the courts in most administrative questions, such as for example
expertise development, personnel questions, media contact and service development. The NCA cannot influence the
courts’ judgments and rulings.
Read more about the The National Courts
Administration at
www.domstoladministrasjonen.no
Evolution of
the Norwegian courts
The Viking Age
We know that there were legislative, judicial and executive authorities as early
as the 10th century. In those days the
kinship group was the most important
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by the Storting and the others appointed
by the King-in-Council.
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Human Rights) and the EEA Agreement.
By acceding to these, the state commits
itself to fulfilling duties and respecting
rights under the conventions.
In the course of the 11th century there
developed local and regional assemblies (bygdeting and lagting), which also
functioned as courts; the Norwegian
word ting still means both. Their most
important function was to reach solutions to various disputes and their formation was driven by population growth,
bigger districts and increased collaboration between districts. King Håkon I
“the Good” changed the composition of
the assemblies from universal attendance to representation by delegates.
The High Middle Ages
In the course of the High Middle Ages
the king acquired more power, and
ultimately discharged all three roles
– legislative, judicial and executive. The
Church also had a role in all three areas,
resulting in a constant tug-of-war for
supremacy.
The most famous regional assemblies
from that period are the Gulating for
Western Norway and the Frostating for
the Trøndelag. The Hålogaland, Eidsivating and Borgarting assemblies developed in the 12th and 13th centuries, but
never achieved the same influence as
Gulating and Frostating.
Legislative codes from the Gulating and
Frostating were rediscovered in modern
times. The development of the assemblies and the discovery of the codes
clearly show that the rule of law was
well on the way to becoming centralised
as early as the 12th century.
The most usual legislative instance at
that time was customary law: that is to
say, there were many rules of law, but
not laid down by any public authority.
Customary or common law is still in use
The need for codification increased, and
in 1274, under king Magnus VI “Lawmender” the old regional laws were
reworked and called the National Law
(Landsloven). This was meant to be authoritative for the regional courts and
to some extent for the district courts.
The Law was regarded as an administrative unification of Norway, the political unification being traditionally dated
to 1030. The National Law also involved
amendments to the judicial and executive aspects of the legal system, such as
royally appointed court presidents (lagmenn) to chair the proceedings between
the parties. More higher courts (lagting)
were created, and sited in towns or other
centres. Crime was no longer conceived
as an offence against the kin-group, but
as against the King. The period saw not
only the beginnings of centralisation,
but also of bureaucratising and professionalisation.
The Union period
Norway was in union with Denmark, and
intermittently with Sweden too, from
1390 to 1814, a period in which the Norwegian legal system saw further professionalisation.
Norwegian cases began in the city or
district court, proceeded to the higher
courts and finally to the Overhoffretten
in Oslo, from 1624 called Christiania.
After Denmark created a Supreme
Court in 1661, Norwegian cases could
be appealed there. The Danes had little
knowledge of Norwegian laws and legal
thinking, and therefore settled cases by
their own laws. The Supreme Court was
subject to the king, and until 1771 all
decisions made by the Supreme Court
were to be reviewed by him. In 1771 this
review power was abolished, except for
death sentences. In the course of the
Danish Union, attempts were made to
increase the distinction between the judicial and executive powers, at the same
time as the king maintained his position
as the fount of legislation.
The National Law promulgated under
Magnus “Lawmender” was still applicable law in Norway. As the 17th century
progressed a need was felt to update
it, leading to the Norwegian Law (Den
Norske Lov) of 1687, which was to a certain extent based on the Danish code of
1683. The Supreme Court in Denmark
could now deal with two legal codes that
were more or less similar.
The separation of powers and the
Norwegian Constitution
The principle of “separation of powers” –
that is, between the legislative, executive
and judicial functions – was formulated by
the French philosopher Montesquieu.
Montesquieu’s separation of powers was
central to the Norwegian constitution of
1814, adopted after that year’s separation from Denmark. The King was the
executive power, the Storting the legislative power and the courts the judicial
power. The Norwegian constitution was
more liberal than many others, inter alia
being based on the principle of popular
sovereignty.
Norway acquired its own Supreme Court
in 1815. The Norwegian constitution
remained in force after the young state
entered a union with Sweden, and so the
final Norwegian independence in 1905
did not represent any change in the Norwegian legal system.
During the German occupation of 194045 the Supreme Court resigned, and
judges were appointed who were loyal
to the occupiers. Neither the judges nor
their decisions from this period were
recognised after Liberation.
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today not only in international law, but
also in national areas such as constitutional and administrative law, some parts
of private law and the law of damages.
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Courts of Norway
executive power; crimes and conflicts
were resolved by negotiation between
the kin-groups, often involving agreement on the penalty.
Skipnes Kommunikasjon
Co urts o f N o r way
The National Courts Administration
Visiting address: Dronningensgate 2, 7011 Trondheim
Mail address:
7485 Trondheim
Telephone:
+ 47 73 56 70 00
Telefax:
+ 47 73 56 70 01
E-mail:
[email protected]